The present invention relates to providing status of data residing in a database and, more particularly, to a system for providing status information to a client automatically when at least some of the data is changed.
One of the pleasures for a service provider in dealing with clients is the opportunity to communicate with them. It is not unusual for a lawyer, a therapist, an architect, a physician, a stockbroker, a banker or a business person to contact his or her clients or patients, from time to time, to exchange information. Certainly, one of the most common information exchange procedures is to update clients or patients as to the status of activities that are being performed on their behalf.
Due to the nature of business, however, many service providers are confronted with a significant number of status queries from their clients, sometimes on a daily or even on a more frequent basis. Such status queries are not necessarily productive for both parties and, in fact, can become disruptive to the business of the service provider.
Fortunately, we are now all accustomed to automated telephone systems that are used to provide information to a caller for such diverse purposes as determining the balance on a charge card account, verifying airline reservations, or ascertaining the availability of concert tickets. Indeed, it is difficult to believe that anyone living in our modern age has not used such an automated telephone system at one time or another. Thus, customer resistance to such automated telephone systems for status information has decreased over the years.
The field of accounting is no exception to the general principles described above. A client of an accountant or a bookkeeper (hereinafter a xe2x80x9ctax preparerxe2x80x9d) is likely to desire information about his or her tax return, for example, not only during the preparation thereof, but also after it has been filed with the appropriate federal, state or city agency. Of course, this is especially true if such client has reason to believe that a tax refund is due.
Needless to say, given the number of taxpayers who use the services of any given tax preparer or firm of preparers, the magnitude of potential status inquiries to be handled by each preparer represents, at the least, an unproductive activity on the part of the preparer; it is most often a burden, an inconvenience, and an annoyance.
It would therefore be advantageous to provide an automated system for responding to inquiries by clients of a service provider.
It would also be advantageous to provide such a system that could be used over telephone lines, by the use of paging systems, via e-mail, or by means of any communication system now known or hereafter invented.
It would further be advantageous to provide an automated voice response (AVR) system based on data residing in an electronic database which is updated by an e-file.
It would also be advantageous to provide an AVR system that could provide information about data, if any, that has changed or that has been updated since the last status inquiry.
It would also be advantageous to provide an AVR system that can actually anticipate the inquiry of the caller, the status being transmitted to the client only a short time after the data has been updated.
It would further be advantageous to provide an AVR system tailored to tax preparers and taxpayers relating to tax returns and/or refunds due.
The present invention is a method for providing status information to a client based on data residing in an electronic database updated by an e-file. The database of the information is maintained and updated, and is periodically analyzed by the inventive system to determine whether at least a portion of the data has changed since the last analysis or communication. If so, the client is automatically informed by the system, which initiates an automatic voice response (AVR) call out to the client. The client verifies that he or she is the true intended recipient of the status information before it is communicated. A log of this communication is also maintained by the system. The client has the opportunity to respond to the system AVR call and/or correct or provide additional information, the client voice response being stored in an appropriate voice mailbox maintained by the inventive system.